I was hungry for the blood of this insolent woman.

She attempted to kill me, which was not out of the ordinary, but then she was almost successful in murdering Jaslynn. If I had not returned to the camp when I had, I could have been mateless.

When we entered the empty cabin, I flicked the light on and grabbed a wooden chair before dropping Ester on it.

"Hand me that bird. Tie her up," I demanded, brushing my hands free of the dirt from her clothes. Reece handed me the seagull carefully, but I grabbed him by his leg so he was hanging upside down.

She knew better than to question my actions as I pulled the arrow out of his wing nonchalantly, causing a little waterfall of blood to splatter on the floor.

He let out a weak squawk, and I lifted him higher in the air, "I recommend you shift back to your original form or I will force your shift by breaking every one of your fucking bones until you beg me to put an end to your worthless life."

The promise behind my words scared him, and the form of the seagull slowly morphed into that of a grown man who might have been in his late forties or early fifties. His face was red from the blood rushing to his head, and he whimpered in pain as the arm that was shot started to bleed again.

I rolled my eyes and flung him against the wall so he landed on the floor with a large thump and a soft moan, "Pathetic."

I glared at the older man as he continued to whimper and grab his arm before I turned and watched Reece rummage through her backpack.

"I have essential oils in here somewhere," she muttered, "They should wake her up immedia–found it!"

Her hand emerged from the bag with a little glass bottle, and she kneeled before Ester as she fiddled with the stopper. The moment it was out, she placed the opening near Ester's nose, and almost instantaneously, Ester's eyes snapped open.

We watched her sputter and cough dramatically before I had enough of her antics and slapped her right across her face, causing her dentures to fly out of her mouth.

I guess witches didn't have spells to keep their teeth intact or she never bothered to use them.

"You," she spat, looking me up and down with disgust, "You are no man. How dare you slap a woman?"

My wolf was itching to rip her apart and end her right there, but I wanted the satisfaction of watching every moment of her demise.

"Evil has no gender," I replied through gritted teeth, "So I don't care if you identify as a man or a woman because you are still an abomination to your kind."

She cackled, her eyes the epitome of madness, "You act as if you aren't a monster yourself. Everyone knows about the infamous Alpha Alrik who–"

Reece backhanded her, cutting off her amusement.

I crouched in front of Ester so we were eye level and gestured to Reece to hand me my weapon, "The rumors aren't wrong. If you betray my trust or go against my rules, I'll make sure your worst nightmares come true. There are no second chances with me. So speaking about second chances,"

Reece handed me my favorite hunting knife, and I picked up one of Ester's hands, "The more you cooperate, the more fingers you keep."

"You won't get anything from me," she spit in my face.

I chuckled softly at her disrespect, causing her eyes to narrow in suspicion, "Remember that this was your choice,"

I flicked my wrist, the knife came down, and she let out a shrill scream that nearly made my eardrums burst.

After she was done and just hiccuping, I rolled my eyes and lifted her severed thumb into her line of vision, "If you're done with your wailing, answer my first question. What do you know about the wizard named Malcolm?"

"H–he," she sniffled, "He mailed a letter to me a few weeks ago and explained that Jaslynn was going to visit and try to get information and kill me after."

"So you decided to kill her before she killed you?" I asked, tossing her thumb aside.

She nodded, staring at the bloody blade with a slightly green face.

"Next question," I said, pressing the knife against her index finger, "Where is the Book of Demonic Magic?"

Silence.

"Suit yourself," I said noncholantly.

As the knife started to dig into her finger, she sobbed, "N-no. I'll tell."

I raised an eyebrow impatiently.

"D-did you take my diary? I don't remember the exact location, but in my January 21st entry, I wrote down the exact coordinates, and there are also a few letters from the delegated wizard before he died."

"What does your diary look like?"

"Red cover with a gold spine."

"Good."

I cut her index finger off, and she released another terrific scream and a few sobs.

"That was for almost killing my mate," I explained, throwing the finger away, "Commander, wrap her hand up. If I need any more information, I don't need her passing out from blood loss."

Reece nodded and kneeled beside me while I directed my attention to the silent wizard, who had tears trailing down his cheeks.

"Name?"

"Bartholomew," he whispered hoarsely.

"How close are you to Malcolm?"

"I don't know anyone named Malcolm."

I sighed and grabbed his hand as well, "You just have to make this difficult. I hope you realize that I don't have many questions for you so I can just start cutting off your hands and feet."

He swallowed hard and licked his cracked lips, "I was a spy and his right-hand man."

"Right-hand man, you say? So where is Malcolm now?"

"He is constantly changing his location. I don't know where he is at present."

"How do you keep in contact?"

"Letter."

"When was the last time you saw him?"

"Two days ago."

"What did he tell you two days ago?"

"How he tried to trick your Commander into thinking she lost her mate."

"What?" Reece screeched, rushing over to yank him up by his neck, "Say that again, you worthless piece of shit, before I force-feed you your balls."

He struggled to breathe and twisted in her hand as she shook him in the air, "T-the boy wasn't your mate. Ester cast a love spell to simulate the same emotions."

Our heads snapped to Ester, whose face had paled significantly.

Reece was breathing harshly as she trembled with anger, and I placed my hand on the hand that was gripping Bartholomew's neck, "Release him. I'll let you have your way with him after I finish."

She dropped him, and he wheezed and coughed, trying to fill his lungs with air again.

"What do you know about Malcolm's future plans?"

He shook his head, "I–I don't. He refused to tell anyone. Ester was supposed to kill you both. That was the original plan."

He went into another coughing fit, and I sighed and glanced at Reece, "Do what you want but make sure they're alive. Tie them back up once you're done."

She nodded, and I knew she was barely holding herself back from ripping into them. I could see her wolf begging to be released.

I rotated on my heel and walked to the door, "I'll be back later."

***

Jaslynn was fast asleep in her bed, curled into a ball as if she was cold. I grabbed a blanket and tucked it around her gently, making her stir.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she blinked a few times before she rubbed the sleep away, "Alrik?"

"How do you feel?" I asked, sitting on the bed beside her.

She sat up slowly and looked around, "I feel okay. Still a little weak but better."

I raised my hand and placed it on her neck, gently rubbing her mark, "It'll be sore for a few days."

Her gentle brown eyes traced my body, and a small frown formed on her lips, "Is that Ester's blood on your clothes?"

"It is. And a little bit of the seagull's since he was bleeding everywhere. Do you know anything about a wizard named Bartholomew?"

Her eyes widened, "Bartholomew? Uncle Amos expelled him from the Coven years ago for attempting to rape a young girl."

"Well, he won't able to rape anyone any longer," Reece appeared in the doorway, "I castrated him and cut the old witch's nipples off."

Jaslynn's face was torn between shock and disgust, "She's not lying, is she?"

I shook my head, "It turns out the boy wasn't Reece's mate. She mourned for no reason."

"Well, I wouldn't say mourning was bad. An innocent boy was still killed," Reece shrugged, "But Alrik, I need to shift. My wolf cannot contain herself. She is pissed pissed."

The desperate plea in her voice did not go unnoticed.

"Tell you what. Take someone with you and go to Ester's cottage to get the diary she mentioned. The distance should be enough to cool your wolf off."

She nodded and spun around to leave before Jaslynn called, "Watch out for the black dildo!"

I snorted, "Knowing my commander, she'll probably bring it back to torture Ester with it."

"I don't want to see that," she shuddered, "But what else did you find out from those two?"

"They're both pussies."

"Alrik."

"The diary that Reece is getting apparently has the location of the book in it. What do you want to do once we know? Do you want to find it?"

She shook her head, "Once we have it, we're going back to the Minister's house."